Dandy Daisies

 

12"x12" oil on gessobord

 Click here to purchase, or for more information.

This was actually finished right before Christmas. I'm taking some of those small florals ever larger. I'm really loving working on the gessobord, but I know when I go to the super large paintings, I find it better to work on canvas. The panels get extremely heavy at that size. So I do go back and forth with surfaces, I have several that I like to work on for a few different reasons.   I'm finding a greater comfort zone combining brushes with my palette knife work....at ALL sizes that I work in, from tiny to enormous. 

Daisy Riot - SOLD!!

 

4"x4" oil on archival panel

So far, this is my favorite of the group of recent florals! Very happy with the depth on this one, it's what I've been working to achieve with this broken color and attention to edges in these recent studies.  So it is a mix of technique, using transparent colors (yes, as well as opaques), brushes, knives, and even a squeegee!! These are the techniques I'll be teaching next summer in Ireland! Follow this link for more information about this.  Also, if you live in my area of southeastern CT, I still have a spot available in my studio class in January- "Mentoring Mondays"...from 9 to noon, Jan. 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th.

 

Zinnias & Daisy Riot Floral ACEO Oil Painting

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1

 If you have followed my work for a long time, you know I'm a garden painter. From early spring to late fall I'm out there (with my hubby, the main garden guru) planting for painting! Every surface in my garden is a topic that I've painted. To check out what I'm up to, visit my web-site and blog!!! We had a great gardening year - which made it very inspiring for painting.The zinnias were outstanding this year, and the daisies just outdid themselves. These were among the last batches that I cut before our first big frost! And yes, I am indeed enjoying painting these small ACEOs... between painting breaks on a large one that I'm working on. 

  

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!

Green Tea White Daisies

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1

Here's where I decided to put all the daisies in the green tea pot, I thought they showed up well again that green! If you can't tell by now, this is one gardener who is missing summer!! Luckily, paintings allow us to have a bit of summer all year long!

It has been several years since I have used eBay as a place to sell, but I did enjoy it back in its 'heyday'.  I've begun a new series of ACEOs,  so far all florals - and I knew eBay would be the perfect place to highlight these! These little gems make a perfect gift idea! 

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!

Daisies & Zinnias ACEO Floral Original Oil Painting

 

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1 

More in my series of these fun ACEO florals.  You can see in my rush to save as many zinnias & daisies as I could, I cut boodles of them to paint. For a little while, I had all these arrangements setting on the island counter top in my kitchen. It looked like a florists shop in there!   

It has been several years since I have used eBay as a place to sell, but I did enjoy it back in its 'heyday'.  I've begun a new series of ACEOs,  so far all florals - and I knew eBay would be the perfect place to highlight these! These little gems make a perfect gift idea! 

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!

Joys Of Summer Garden Blossoms

6"x8" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival board

For more information about this painting or to purchase, please visit this link, or 

contact me here.

Cone-flowers, day-lilies, hydrangeas, blue geraniums, catmint, daisies

whew, the list is endless or so it seems. They are all in bloom right now in my front garden!

Loves Me, Love Me Not, Loves Me

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite archival panel

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." -Lao Tzu


Another one from the vault to help you be ready for Valentine's Day. And yes, what a perfect way to honor the one you love, with art! I have a few select pieces that I will offer at a special price unframed for Valentines day, perfect for displaying on a small table-top easel. It is dry and ready to ship!

Don't let those petals fool you, it's LOVE!!

Buy this painting on PayPal

Price: $100 USD

Or, send me an email

Front Garden, Daylilies and Coneflowers

9"x12" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival panel

"Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Deep into mid-summer and so many things are still blooming their hearts out! The view of this front garden is interesting from so many angles! Here, I'm looking out from my garage, this time, instead of avoiding the rain, I was seeking a bit of shade. But how wonderful to see things from different view points. Which is helpful in more things than we care to admit!

This painting (unframed) can be purchased directly from my DailyPainters.com gallery store.

"An Easy Start"- Floral

12"x16" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival panel

"No gift to your mother can ever equal her gift to you - life."

- anonymous

"An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest."- Spanish proverb

"There's a lot more to being a woman than being a mother, but there's a hell of a lot more to being a mother than most people suspect." -Roseanne Barr

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." -Anthony Brandt

It's been a busy week, shipping out two paintings that were dry and ready to ship, framing up another one that's ready to deliver next. And of course, painting. "An Easy Start" is a little larger than most in my current series of florals (the Sunshine Series). It pictures what I imagine to be an 'easy start' to a day, flowers, and a cup of something hot, perhaps a lump or two of sugar if you prefer?

I also knew that with my time restraints this week from other appointments, that I might take a bit longer to finish this one. So instead of the Cremnitz white that I usually use, I did use Titanium white on this one. Some of the attendees at my demo last Saturday might recall that I usually use Cremnitz white in my work. It is a lead based paint that really has a wonderful consistency and sets up within a day or so, without the stickiness that some alkyd paints have, or runnyness that an alkyd medium might have. This painting, I knew I didn't want it drying too fast on me, so back to the Titanium white paint. Now it will probably take several weeks to dry to the touch on the surface.

Some of my blog readers might remember that last summer I did a little 'white paint experiment' testing out just about every type of white oil paint out there. They do vary by brand and by color name. Each has it's own particular qualities, thicknesses, opaqueness vs. transparency, & drying times. It's useful to know what you can expect out of the tube that you buy. As an artist, you'll find it so helpful to know your materials as well as you can.

*****I hope you enjoy your Mother's Day weekend- whether you are a mom, or are spending time with your mom....or honoring the memory of her, or even being a 'stand-in mom' of sorts to those you love. I think Roseanne Barr would agree, it's a lot more complicated than many would suspect!

Contact me here, for more information or to purchase.

Finding Your Artistic Voice - Daisy Sunshine

8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite archival panel

"It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent."

- Madeleine Albright

I'm back from a wonderful, though mighty short weekend in Norfolk, VA. I was given the opportunity to present "Finding Your Artistic Voice" and a demo on palette knife painting techniques at London Square Gallery in Norfolk. An enthusiastic group showed up for the demo and talk. Since it was a two hour presentation, I provided a hand-out with information to supplement both these topics as well as a "home-work" assignment! It's an exercise that I found about six years ago, recommended by Kevin Macpherson, which provided a huge breakthrough for me at that time. When I explained the process, I saw heads nodding, wow, yes, that would indeed make a difference! For those in attendance that do try it, I'd love to hear back from you!

One of the fun parts of a demo, is bringing 'the magic' to a blank canvas/empty board.

I'd love to expand this to a full workshop, so that those in attendance will have the opportunity to try their hand at it as well!


I am so grateful to Scott London, of London Square Gallery for hosting this event, and for all those who attended Saturday! Thanks boodles!! If you live in the Hampton Roads area, please stop in to see the eleven new paintings I delivered! They are all part of my 'Sunshine Series' of florals I've been working on the last few months in my anxious wait for Spring to arrive here in New England. They are the pieces that got me through 'bleak winter'. These florals over-flow the boundaries of the canvas with simple, yet beautiful things...which is metaphoric for what I want in my life..the feeling of "good things running over"..... simple but bountiful; full of life, love and light.

London Square Gallery is located at 4410 Colley Ave. in Norfolk, Va. Call for hours: 757-440-0269.

Contact me for more information here.

Strawberry Splash

8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite archival panel

"An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh."

- Will Rogers

Tuesday I stayed in the studio making good use of this batch of flowers, as well as catch up on laundry, and clean up before I head down to Norfolk, VA this week. It's been a while since I pulled my dragon-fly teapot down to use with some flowers. It makes such a nice contrast against the pink cloth. I also enjoy getting the lighting such as to leave part of the daisies in shadow, it makes such interesting effects. I haven't opened the little jar of strawberries, in fact I can't ever remember buying canned/jarred strawberries before- but they looked interesting enough to paint! To purchase online, please visit my DailyPainters.com gallery.


*****Just a reminder for my Hampton Roads friends; this week I'm headed to Norfolk! Saturday, April 30th I'll be demo-ing palette knife techniques and speaking about "Finding Your Artistic Voice" at London Square Gallery from noon to 2pm. I'd love for you to join us!

Afternoon Prelude, Floral

12"x12" oil on gessoed archival panel

“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”

- Swedish Proverb


Thursday was windy and chilly, so I stayed in to get caught up with all my framing for the paintings I'm taking down to Norfolk, VA next week. Early Friday morning I went out for some flowers to paint. All the colors they have now that it's Easter week- hehe, they called some of them "Jelly-bean Bouquets", and the colors were just like that! I've set this arrangement up as sort of a tea-break before afternoon- sort of an afternoon 'fortification'. These paintings I've done in this series are a reminder to bring these things into our lives; flowers for the table, a cup of tea, a bit of honey to sweeten, a bit of fruit, and some colorful linens just for the cheer of it. Hope you can make room in your life for some of these things.

To purchase this painting:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $550 USD
Or, send me an email

*****Just a reminder for my Hampton Roads friends; next week I'm headed to Norfolk! Saturday, April 30th I'll be demo-ing palette knife techniques and speaking about "Finding Your Artistic Voice" at London Square Gallery from noon to 2pm. I'd love for you to join us!

Loves me, Loves me Not....Loves me!

6"x6" oil on archival panel

"What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork."

-Pearl Bailey


Remember when answers came as simply as daisy petals? (Well that was a looooonnng time ago). "Loves me, Loves me not.....Loves me" is a little 6"x6" oil on archival panel, cup-full of daisies. The antique pressed green glass is a gift from my Aunt Jo. It has been wanting to get in on the scene with all the daisies I've been painting! Now, as far as petal-pulling for answers, I'd really like to know; Is Spring Coming, or Is It Not, Is Spring Coming?????


Welcome to my latest new subscribers! I do hope you enjoy the paintings, photos & stories! I always love hearing comments from my readers!!

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $125 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

Sunny Daze-eez

6"x6" oil on archival panel

"It's not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts."
- Addison Walker

More from the 'Sunshine' series; this 6"x6" oil on archival panel is called "Sunny Daze-eez". I just took a stroll out in the yard with hubby and found that the daffodils are just starting to poke through the ground! Spring really IS on its way.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $125 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

Time Out For Tea

18"x14" oil on gallery wrapped stretched linen

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."

-Doug Larson

It seems that I've been a slacker when it comes to sending out the "Cheer Factor" emails this week. But I have been working on a new painting, a bit larger than my usual small daily works. I've been thrilled with the better selection of flowers lately at our grocery store! It must be one more 'sign of Spring'. "Time Out For Tea" is the name of this painting I've just finished. It is an 18"x14" oil on gallery wrapped stretched linen. Contact me here for availability of this painting.

Hubby and I also spent some time planning and ordering some seeds for this year's garden. I look forward to being able to paint in the middle of all this in just a few months! Oh the colors are going to be fantastic!!

Be sure to sign up for my "Cheer Factor" newsletter and see all the latest paintings fresh off the easel as well as subscriber specials.

Orange You Sweet?!

8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite archival artboard

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange."
- Vincent Van Gogh

"Orange You Sweet" is an 8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite artboard. Ol' Vincent sure does have a point, these two colors sure do resonate with each other. Vincent also realized that opposites on the color wheel really vibrate when placed side-by-side. He certainly took advantage of this in his own paintings. I especially loved catching that glow of amber honey reflecting onto to the blue vase. This painting is nice to pair with "Cure For A Case Of the Januaries" that I painted the other day...or they certainly can stand alone. Daisies are so cheery, especially in the dreariest of winter days.

Another cure for a case of the "Januaries"! For more information about this painting, contact me roxannesteed@gmail.com

Cure For A Case Of The Januaries - sold!

8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

"Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul."
- Oscar Wilde

What are the dreaded 'Januaries' you might ask?? That post holiday exhaustion and the realization that winter is still going to be here for 3 more months. "Cure For A Case Of The Januaries" is an 8"x8" oil on gessoed masonite artboard.

I'm really enjoying these flowers this winter -they are really making me look forward to Spring (yes I know, it's a long way off). But while snow is swirling all around me outside, I can be warm and dry in my studio remembering what summer offered up last year. Hoping for this year in the garden to be even more bountiful. We've been going through the seed & plant catalogs looking for what we'd like to try this year. Ah, the joy of anticipation!



*****Upcoming shows - Here in CT: I'll be taking part in the Mystic Art Center's Members Exhibition which opens this Friday, January 14th, 5:30-7:30pm. Hope to see you there.